Two Bitcoin wallets that had been inactive for nearly 11 years suddenly roared back to life on Monday, transferring a combined total of 3,421 bitcoins valued at approximately $322.5 million.
They were set up in July of 2013 and hadn’t been accessed since, so this was their first activity in over a decade on record.
The initial transfer occurred at block height 895,421 and consisted of 2,343.481 BTC, equivalent to approximately $220.8 million. The transfer was from a standard Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash (P2PKH) address, commonly used in early Bitcoin days, to 31 separate outputs.
Interestingly, 30 of the outputs were sent to a newly established Pay-to-Witness-Public-Key-Hash (P2WPKH) wallet, a more recent and secure format. To date, these funds have been left untouched in the new address.
Later on, a second transaction was also seen at block height 895,433, with another 1,078.99 BTC, valued at over $101 million. This wallet was also initiated on July 11, 2013. Similar to the first one, the BTC was transferred from a P2PKH address to a new P2WPKH address in 27 outputs. Once again, the coins have not moved after the transfer.
Blockchain analytics platforms such as btcparser.com and Whale Alert detected the transfers and identified them because of the wallets’ age and size. The fact that these movements are so notable is further compounded by where they came from.
As per Sani of timechainindex.com, these coins are associated with Silk Road, the notorious darknet marketplace that operated in Bitcoin’s early days. He observed that the BTC seems to have been withdrawn from Silk Road back in 2012.
Analysts and Bitcoin enthusiasts are eagerly monitoring the new wallets. There is suspicion that the cash will be moved again, sold, or quietly kept upon. With their Silk Road history, these transfers serve as a reminder of Bitcoin’s murky past and how blockchain records preserve those stories in perpetuity.
Also Read: 14-Year-Dormant Bitcoin Wallet Moves 100 BTC Worth $8.5 Million
